Starring: Stanisław Tym, Zdzisław Maklakiewicz, Jan Himilsbach
Directed by: Marek Piwowski
When Marek Piwowski assembled a cast of non-professional actors from the drifters he encountered on the streets in Łódź for Muchotłuk (The Fly Killer, 1966), his distinctive approach to documentary filmmaking was born. It wasn’t until 4 years later that the Polish cinéaste reached a wider audience, which the mockumentary cult comedy Rejs (The Cruise).
This time, Piwowski even welcomed a few non-amateur thesps aboard his tacky ‘love boat’ for a day trip navigating down the Vistula. Polish comedy idol Stanisław Tym plays a stowaway mistaken for a Communist party official who rapidly warms to his unexpected role as leisure and cultural activities coordinator for the cruise.
The film is a pitch-perfect satire of life under the Communist regime, with Tym as the dictator of a floating absurdist state. There are harebrained scenes and wonderful dialogue throughout as the passengers are roped into ridiculous and faintly humiliating games.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on June 1, 2013